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Stocks Close Lower as Consumer Confidence Weakens, May Continue to Drift Sideways

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Markets closed lower Tuesday as consumer confidence ultimately weighed on a choppy trading session in New York.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed off 0.17% to 16,179.66, while the S&P 500 lost 0.13% to 1,845.12. The Nasdaq dropped 0.13 to 4,287.59.

"A little bit of profit-taking today," Darrell Cronk, regional chief investment officer at Wells Fargo Private Bank, said in a phone interview from New York. "I think the market will drift sideways ... probably tomorrow waiting to take away any nuggets that [Chairwoman Janet] Yellen will have to say in front of the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday."

Consumer confidence for February fell to 78.1 from 79.4 the prior month; economist were looking for a reading of 80.

U.S. home prices rose 11.3% in the fourth quarter of 2013, the S&P/Case-Shiller price index showed Tuesday. The December FHFA Housing Price Index also reflected a rise, with U.S. house prices up 1.2% in the fourth quarter and 0.8% higher for the month.

The S&P 500 hit a fresh record during intraday trade Monday as expectations of a European Union aid package to the Ukraine boosted European markets, while domestic M&A activity continued.

In stock news, Macy's(M) rose 6% after announcing a fifth year of double-digit earnings-per-share growth. Online retailer Zulily(ZU) leapt 36.3% after doubling its sales for the fourth quarter against the same period last year. Tesla(TSLA - Get Report) jumped 13.9% after Morgan Stanley raised its price target on the stock to $320 from $153 on its planned "gigafactory." Home Depot(HD) rose 4% after quarterly earnings per share of 73 cents topped Wall Street estimates of 71 cents.

On the flipside, JPMorgan Chase(JPM - Get Report) shed 1.7%, as the company revealed in an investor presentation that it may cut 8,000 jobs at its consumer and mortgage banking divisions as home loan demand continues to weaken; the cuts are in addition to the 13,000 to 15,000 jobs that are already in the process of being eliminated. Tenet Healthcare(THC) slid 8.6% after reporting a fourth-quarter loss as results were weighed down by expenses tied to the buyout of Vanguard Health Systems.

International markets were largely weaker despite the sharp gains in the U.S. market as the People's Bank of China drained liquidity through the sale of RMB100 billion ($16.4 billion) of 14-day repurchase agreements, and mining stocks declined amid softer metal prices.

The FTSE 100 in the U.K. closed down 0.52%, the DAX in Germany was off 0.10%, the Nikkei 225 in Japan settled up 1.44%, the Hong Kong Hang Seng fell 0.32%, and the Shanghai Composite slid 2.05%

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